The Word Bank on Friday signed a US$ 2.58 million grant agreement with BRAC to implement a pilot project on ‘Safe Migration for Bangladeshi Workers’ with the objective of reducing vulnerability of migrant workers and their families.
The pilot project will be implemented across 80 upazilas in 20 districts and aims to benefit 864,000 potential migrants and their families, said a World Bank press release.
The project aims to develop and strengthen local information and support systems through Community Based Organizations (CBOs) for potential migrant families. The CBOs will be strengthened to provide accurate and timely access to information and services for safe migration and ensure that potential migrants are well informed if they decide to pursue migration.
Migrants’ family members will also be able to obtain information on more affordable ways to fund migration as well as manage remittances. Particular focus will be paid to female migrants. The pilot project will also help to support and formalise local networks to facilitate information sharing on the migration process.
“While the economic gains from migration are obvious for both migrants and their families, migrants incur substantial costs, especially in the absence of complete information,” said Christine Kimes, acting country head of the World Bank Bangladesh.
She said: “This project has great potential for reducing the vulnerability of potential migrants and their families by enhancing information flows about migrant rights, the migration process, affordable financing, and remittance management.”
BRAC executive director Mahabub Hossain said that during the recent past, there has been a significant rise in work-related temporary overseas migration for export of services. “Migrant remittances provide direct, immediate and far reaching benefits to the country.”
This project, he said, will help strengthen BRAC’s efforts to better prepare potential migrants for overseas employment while improving the ‘migration value chain’, including lower migration and remittance costs for families.
Remittances from migrant workers in the current fiscal year to date amount to more than US$ 13 billion and account for approximately 10 percent of GDP, a major source of Bangladesh’s foreign exchange earnings.
At the family level, remittances from migrant workers enable poor households to obtain better nutrition, education and health care, and thus play a vital role in the fight against poverty.
Source: UNB Connect
